Supply issues, cooler demand causing goods trade to dawdle: WTO

The outlook for world trade continued to be overshadowed by downside risks, regional disparities and continued weakness of services trade, it said.

Supply shocks, including port gridlock arising from surging import demand in the first half of the year and disrupted production of goods such as automobiles and semiconductors, had contributed to the decline in global goods trade, the global trade body said.

Demand for traded goods was also easing, indicated by falling export orders.

“Cooling import demand could help ease port congestion, but backlogs and delays are unlikely to be eliminated as long as container throughput remains at or near record levels,” it said.

WTO said the reading was broadly in line with its forecast of a 10.8 per cent pick-up of merchandise trade volume this year, slowing to a 4.7 per cent rise in 2022.

The WTO goods trade barometer is a composite of data and is designed to anticipate turning points and gauge momentum in global trade growth rather than to provide a specific short-term forecast.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)